Last week me and Jakub had a chance to visit Hojancha and had a great opportunity to visit Daycare and Nutritional Center. Hojancha is a small town located in the Province of Guanacaste. The origin of the name Hojancha comes from a tree located in the region, which the Indians called broad-leaved, because of the very special characteristics and the size of their leaves.

Because Hojancha is a small town, it's easy get to know local people and to make new friends. Volunteers are welcome in town and are taken care of very well by our host families and community members.

Hojancha can be proud of its cleanness, how well the town is organized and maintained. Even more, it is one of the safest towns in the country and it is reflected that residents feel in safety and many of them still leave their doors unlocked day and night.  Hojancha is still considered a small town in Guanacaste but it is one of the most respected.

Projects in Hojancha that are currently possible to join are Art & Music Project and Daycare and Nutritional Center. And also in Hojancha our Holiday Project will take place. For more information please see here.

As I mentioned at the beginnig this time we had the chance to visit Daycare and Nutritional Center. It was created to function as an educator for parents and kids to teach them better hygiene and eating habits. Additionally it serves for distributing food packages to poor children who live far away from the center and are in need of a more nutritional diet.

Nowadays the Daycare and Nutritional Center serves as a model for others throughout the country. Its staff takes great care of it and is committed to maintain the quality of the services they provide. Unfortunately it is not easy for them, since they are understaffed and the government keeps pressuring them to maintain its services and also to improve them every day. Due to this fact volunteers are more than welcome in this amazing Center. Not just that volunteers can play and do various activities with the children, but by this they give some extra time for teachers to catch up with the paper work.

Center is very beautiful and you can see that teachers there really take care of it. There are pictures on the walls and some posters that were made by children and previous volunteers. You can feel lots of positive energy and compassion here.

 Volunteers can participate by assisting teachers with taking care of children and keeping them busy and under control, playing games with children, assisting the children in taking their naps, preparing food donations and also by teaching them some basic English and in whatever more that is needed.

Volunteers that are naturally enthusiastic, active, creative and proactive and of course they love children have the best prerequisites to spend an amazing time here!

For more pictures from the Daycare Center please see our photogallery here.

Except the great time spending in the Center there is also an option for some afternoon adventures such as zip-line canopy tour, Diria Coffee tour, Wildlife Tempisque River tour and many more. 

Also, make sure you visit some of the beaches since Guanacaste is famous for its spectacular beaches in the Pacific coast with more than 125 miles of extension and are definitely worthy to see!

What is your experience, have you ever participated in volunteer projects connected to children?

(By Marketa Sobotkova – Marketing Intern

With this letter, the parents of children in Alto Katsi, Talamanca, Costa Rica are appealing for your valuable support explained below.

For the past three years our children have been receiving school lessons in our own community.  Before this time, our children had to walk almost two kilometers down the mountain to the closest school in the nearby community of Katsi.  The small building we were using for the school was in very poor repair and no longer safe for children.  It was taken down early in 2009.  As parents, we have been given the task of working to construct our community school since our children no longer have a formal structure to receive classes.  They are currently receiving classes in the home of one of the community members

1.    Lack of cut wood

2.    Acabado de la misma como enderezado y machinerbrodo

3.    Funds to cover the foreman´s salary

This structure has the following measurements à 18 X 7.50 square meters (m2) and consists of 2 classrooms measuring 6 X 9 m2 and a front corridor measuring 1.50 X 18 m2.

Also missing is the cafeteria which measures 14 X 8.40 m2 consists of kitchen, eating area and bathrooms.  For this structure we already have 300 cement blocks, 30 barrilos and 20 bags of cement.  This material was donated to us to make the set of bathrooms.

We wish to finish the school and through this card we are asking for your support and collaboration in our important objective, which is to complete the construction of the school, eating area, kitchen and bathrooms.  In order to finish, we need:

1.    Funds to pay the construction foreman, which will be 2 months at a value of C15,000 per day, for a total of C900,00.

2.    8,000 inches of wood which comes from trees donated by parents.  Por lo ceiol there is a cutting fee, which is C150 per inch, for a total of C1,200,000.  lo ceiol cubrirla el faltante de madera que tiene la escuela y el resto es para la construcción del comedor.

3.    Arreglo de madera como enderezada y madrenbrodo de 8,000 pulgadas, con un costo de la pulgada para un total de C480,000.

4.    Hardware materials and supplies totaling C892,464.

TOTAL BUDGET à C3,472,464.00

I spent my spring break volunteering in Bambu, Costa Rica with Tropical Adventures. On the flight over, I was nervous and excited because this was my first time travelling out of the country by myself and excited to meet everyone in Bambu and experience Costa Rica. When I arrived in San Jose, I was greeted by Manuel who drove me to my hostel, Casa Yoses. The hostel was both clean and friendly, and I enjoyed my night there. The next day Manuel picked me up and drove me to the bus stop where I caught a bus to Puerto Viejo. Isaac picked me up in Puerto Viejo, and we ate lunch and discussed what volunteering in Bambu would be like. His biggest piece of advice was to "go with the flow," and it turned out to be excellent advice.   

Bambu was like nothing I had ever experienced before. I stayed with a family, which really added to the experience. During the days, I volunteered at the retirement center and the school. The people at the retirement center were really appreciative of the volunteers, and it was great spending time with them and getting to know each individually. The school was fun too, and the children were very excited for their English lesson!

After volunteering, it was great to return home to my family and eat lunch with them. After lunch, I either participated in a tour or spent time with my family. I did the Panama Waterfall Tour on my first day in Bambu, and it was a great introduction to the week. Ito and I took a boat ride out to the waterfall and spent a couple hours swimming there. It was beautiful!

I was sad to leave my family at the end of the week, and I would love to return one day. I only spent a week in Bambu, but the people were so friendly and open, that by the end, I felt as if I belonged there. Likewise, I was very happy to volunteer through Tropical Adventures because they really took care of me. Susan practically organized the whole trip- all I had to do was book my flight! Tropical Adventures booked my transportation, housing, and meals; they made it easy for an outsider to get an inside look at Costa Rica.  

 We worked hard at the ASIS animal rescue center. The work we did was really needed, not some tourist made up projects. I became the segunda madre a tres mapachitos - 2nd mother to three little raccoons. I miss them and am going to have to go back to be sure they continue to do okay.     

This was my second Tropical Adventure trip and I defintely be back for another next year!”